Does how I spell my name matter?

Written by Dan Symons
July 18, 2020

Phonetic equivalents do not make much or any difference from a trademark standpoint, the Trademark Offices of the world will (largely) view them as identical. For example (in English) starting my name with an "F" instead of a "Ph" or replacing an "i" with a "y" will not resolve a trademark conflict with a similar name for similar goods.

The Naming Matters algorithm and our phonetic similarity capability is very good at automatically identifying these equivalent sounds, so you not miss these similar names. As an example, just this week (7/2020) a new user told us that Naming Matters identified a name and placed it at the center of their visualization as high risk, whereas before Naming Matters they had missed, filed for, and been refused by the USPTO, because this same name only appeared several hundred pages into an expensive 300-page search.

Additionally, if you have a Pro subscription allowing unlimited searches you can also have some fun exploring different spellings yourself, as you may come up with new name ideas after reviewing the namespace that different spellings may turn up.